Book excerpt: “You’re worried about him, aren’t you?” Williams didn’t turn around. “Yeah. I guess I am.” He exhaled cigar smoke. “It’s not like him to be so …” “Morose?” “Yeah. I guess that’s it. You know, he’s been at that pond almost since we got here … just drinking and staring … completely oblivious. Remember how I told you that neither of us could recall our previous lives? Well, maybe he’s recalling …” He paused, struggling to find the right words. “A different state of being. A different incarnation. I think he was a man once. A man who lived for a very long time.” “A lonely man, then …” “Yes. Sort of a last man standing. And I think when we met … he rediscovered something he’d been missing for a long time.” “Friendship. Someone to talk to,” she said. “More than that. A reason to live. I—I’ve felt it myself. All those weeks, months, spent walking alone. I told you about Tanelorn. Well that was what we called our reason to live … our reason for putting one foot in front of the other. Because without that …” “‘Gazelle Theory,’” she said. “What?” She laughed a little. “Something my husband used to say. It means, ‘move or die.’” He laughed a little himself. “That’s good. ‘Move or die.’ Whether it’s a physical death or an emotional one.” He stared at Ank in the gloaming before another hand touched him, this time Luna. “Is Ank all right?”